All Things New

Admiral’s Log 12/06/2010

An update with the boat, no time for the sailing stuff. Starting at the front, we’ll move towards the stern bit by bit.

The forestay assembly for the jib has been repaired. The jib sheet, or rope, has been replaced. The furling line has been rerun correctly. Because we replaced the jib sheet with a fatter line, we’ve had to replace the jib pulleys. Replaced 3 turnbuckle boots so the jib sheet doesn’t rub across the shroud cables. Jib sheet is still rubbing on cables, so we have to reconfigure these. We need to bring them up to 36 inches

We re-stained all the teak, inside and out. We went with a beautiful mahogany stain. This made quite a difference in how she looks. The exterior teak will all need to be replaced next year, but this at least has her looking good until we save the money to replace it all. There is a small amount of wood rot, but considering the condition we were surprised it came out this good. Guy decided he wanted to varnish the exterior wood. I insisted that we use teak oil for the interior and it turned out great. We will see over time how the varnish on the exterior holds up. A neighbor passed him on the dock and asked if he was varnishing the wood. Guy replied yes and the neighbor said “yeah, I did that one year”, smiled and walked off. Somethings you have to learn on your own.

We have ordered a new toilet, it should be here at the end of the week. I purchased a color-coordinated toilet box & rearranged the v-berth storage, so now we officially have a bathroom. We had been storing the AC there, but since we can’t use the AC away from the dock, we put it in the dock-box. There is even hand-sanitizer and air freshener spray!

Few weeks ago, the girls agreed to sail with us and we went out for a long time. With all the beer-drinking they were doing, they all needed to use the bathroom. It was hilarious to hear the stories of the different techniques for straddled the AC to use the toilet. Being the most practical of the group, I moved the AC onto the couch when it was my turn. Almost threw my back out. As I said, we now have an official bathroom.

We’ve replaced all the hatch dog knobs. Got a new fastener for the pop-top assembly so it locks went its raised. We had been tying it off with a bungee and praying, this is safer. Repaired 3 tears in the upholstery. Scrubbed all the exterior deck fiberglass with Barkeepers Friend and a scrubbing sponge. Lightly polished exterior deck fiberglass to keep clean. Have to find a way to seal the non-skid areas after cleaning that doesn’t make it slippery. Accidently waxed one spot. Not good, continuing would make her the yacht of death.

Now on to changes we have planned. Starting from the stern and moving forward. We are in the process of redesigning the galley to accomodate the new microwave and coffee/tea maker. We’ve removed the drawer and will cut a square into the fiberglass where the alcohol stove was. Once the hole is cut we will sand all the edges straight and smooth.

Old Galley

We plan on sanding the rotted wood in the bottom and strengthening it with fiberglas cat hair. Then we’ll epoxy paint the inside to protect the wood from water and fiberglass paint the bottom and install a plastic slide rail where the wood one is now. Then epoxy seal it all on the bottom so it can withstand water if it has to. Then we’ll install the microwave into it and trim around it so it looks like it came that way.

Coaming Compartment Trim Before

We are ordering the teak for the coaming compartments this week. We also have decided to paint all of the interior compartments. We have decided on a garage floor epoxy in tan. They have colored chips that we will add to the paint for the storage compartments, to hide dirt as it protects. we’ll also do the inside of the compartment lids.

We’ll clean, repair and paint the coaming compartments with just the paint, no chips, so the cockpit looks good. This with the addition of the stained teak trim should be a vast improvement in the cockpit.

We are considering using this garage floor epoxy paint on the non-skid surfaces, they have a sand additive you can put in it to make it non-skid. We want to resurface the cockpit benches and floor with this, as well as all the non-skid areas midship and towards the bow. I want to run this idea by my new friends at SailBoatOwners.com since they have so much experience with boats. My hope is this plan is sound and will work.

Old Table and Light

Next is the replacement of the table, which in my opinion, the current one is gross. Plastic laminate veneer. I found a beautiful table that I wanted picked out, but they don’t make it in the size we need. For now, we’ll just replace with a red oak, probably. Sweet!

Next on the list is to set up the mainsail rigging to run aft so we can raise and lower the mainsail from the cockpit. This is a simple modification, but one of the parts is kind of expensive. We’ll be running the mainsheet halyard though a pulley at the base of the mast, directing it out to to the corner of the top of the cabin, then running down the sides of the handle rails. This then feeds the halyard into a block, removing the need to climb atop the cabin in big winds. That will sure make me a happy sailor!!